A grassroots group, with sights set on Branford adopting an ordinance prohibiting single-use plastic checkout bags, wants the public to check out a free screening of "Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic?" to learn more about the need to reverse the impacts of plastic pollution.

The group, BYO Branford, will give a free showing of "Bag It," a 25-minute film, Thurs. Oct. 11, 7 p.m. at Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library in Stony Creek; where the group will also give away 25 free large cloth grocery bags with the BYO Branford logo (produced with assistance from CT Fund for the Environment/Save Our Sound). Immediately following the screening, comments will be shared by Curt Johnson of CT Fund for the Environment; Lori Brown of CT League of Conservation Voters; and Liz Milwe, a member of the Westport Representative Town Meeting (RTM) which adopted a reusable checkout bag ordinance in Westport.

The "BYO" in BYO Branford is more fully described as "Bring Your Own Reusable Checkout Bag" in the group's literature. BYO Branford member Meg Kilgore said the group is made up of about a dozen concerned citizens. They are working to make a difference in the world's plastic pollution problem by educating and motivating their Branford community, on the way to asking the Town of Branford to adopt plastic bag ban ordinances like those now on the books in Westport (since 2008) and Greenwich (adopted March 2018). Those two towns are currently Connecticut's only municipalities with this type of ordinance. Kilgore said Branford and Guilford both currently have grassroots groups working toward encouraging their towns to be among the next to adopt an ordinance.

BYO Branford became active in the spring, when a first screening of "Bag It" was also offered to the public, said Kilgore. Since then, BYO Branford has continued working toward educating the public about the problems with single-use plastic bags and gathering interest and momentum to show there is community involvement and support for the idea of an ordinance.

BYO Branford is posting information on its new Facebook page (find BYO Branford on Facebook) and has been placing informational flyers around town. The flyer shares statistics on plastic bag impacts on the environment (especially its oceans), suggested alternatives and BYO Branford's mission statement, which reads, "The purpose of a Reusable Checkout Bag Ordinance is to protect the environment by using reusable checkout bags and reducing single-use bag waste by prohibiting both single-use plastic and virgin paper checkout bags."

Since the spring, BYO Branford has also been circulating a petition which it hopes to bring to the Branford RTM by late fall, together with a request to have a draft ordinance sent to committee for review, said Kilgore.

"In Branford, the RTM has to pass an ordinance in order to ban plastic bags used for checkout," said Kilgore. "The RTM can pass an ordinance that says certain establishments cannot use thin plastic bags at checkout anymore. That's what's happened in Westport and Greenwich."

Residents who attend the Oct. 11 "Bag It" showing will have an opportunity to sign the petition that night. Interested residents can also send an email to byobranford@gmail.com to get more information about signing the petition. As of now, the petition has nearly 800 signatures, said Kilgore.

Kilgore said the group is also discussing the ordinance idea with local merchants. Many residents already bring cloth bags or reusable bags with them when they shop and many stores also encourage such uses.

"We feel it's not going to harm the merchants or be detrimental to them. That's why we're going around to talk to merchants," said Kilgore. "There have been several that have been able to say they support us, and others are not quite so sure."

Kilgore noted the ordinance language could allow merchants time to adjust plastic bag inventories to meet the new requirements.

"One thing I saw in an ordinance that was proposed for Guilford was that there was a period before they actually have to change over. Whether it's a Big Y or a small store in town, it has a certain amount of time when they then have to change over to the new proposed bags," she said.

In that case, the new proposed bags are paper bags of at least 40 percent recycled paper.

"In Guilford, for grocery stores and other bigger stores and chains, they [propose] six months and then they have to change over; but smaller merchants in town would have a year; and actually at the end of a year, if they felt they had a hardship, they could go before the governing body and say, 'We need more time,'" Kilgore said. "I felt that's fair – they might have bought a lot of bags. So there are ways to assist merchants with building toward becoming plastic-bag free."

BYO Branford presents a free screening on "Bag It," 7 p.m. Thurs. Oct. 11 at the Willoughby Wallace Library, 146 Thimble Islands Road, Stony Creek.  For more information, contact byobranford@gmail.com